Michael Hyatt's Blog, page 3

3 Essential Tasks an Executive Assistant Can Do for You

There is no position that is more important for a successful business owner than finding a world-class Executive Assistant. But, despite this simple fact, many leaders and business owners either don’t have an EA or they don’t use their EA effectively.

Bonus: Michael’s EA Spills the Beans!

Listen: As a leader with enough on your plate, you simple need an executive assistant. If you already have an EA, it’s important that you’re leveraging as much value as you can out of this vital role within your company.

In case we haven’t convinced you of the importance of a world-class EA, then this episode is for you. Michael speaks with Jim Kelly. Jim has been Michael’s EA for over five years and is truly one of the best! Listening to these two speak about their relationship and their roles will help you understand not only why you need an executive assistant.

4 Simple Rules for Effective Delegation

Delegation is essential to successfully and sustainably scale your business. If you’ve struggled with delegation in the past, no worries. You can vastly improve your delegation by following these four simple rules that Michael and Megan use every day.

3 Truths to Change How You Experience Stress

The Rules Don’t Apply to Me! (or, How NOT to Be an Entitled Leader)

It can be easier and more comfortable to spot the entitlement we see in others, but much more difficult to name it in ourselves. And often, when there’s an entitlement issue within our organization, it’s a top-down problem that needs to be addressed. 

3 Fears Facing Business Owners in Today’s Market

We’re all trying so hard to be confident that we rarely talk about our fears. But the fears don’t go anywhere. When we’re willing to face our fears, we grow even more in confidence and courage.

5 Mistakes Every Business Owner Makes

All leaders are vulnerable to mistakes. In fact, you may be in the middle of a mistake right now—and you might not even realize it. But how are you supposed to know what those are? And what can you do to avoid them?

 

5 Tools for Attracting and Retaining Top Talent

We’re in an unusual time where hiring is really difficult. Recruitment is extremely competitive, and candidates have a lot of options. But once you find the right people, how do you make them want to stay? Hiring and retention are equally and critically important, and neither have ever been more challenging than in this current market.

3 Communication Fails to Avoid

You have a vision for your business, your team, and your day-to-day workflow. But the more people who are added to the mix, the more likely misunderstandings will happen. No matter how hard you try, things still get lost in translation. It costs time, money, and momentum. Maybe we’re not as good at communicating as we thought. Does communication really have to be that hard?

The truth is, it doesn’t. You can make sure the people around you get the right message the first time—every time. How? By avoiding what’s causing the issue in the first place. Most communication breakdowns can be traced back to one of three things:

No communication. This is communication that is unclear because it isn’t expressed. Sometimes we think we communicated something, but then our team’s confusion tells us otherwise. Thinking about communicating and actually doing it are different things. Maybe you have important information just rattling around in your head that could affect the outcome of a project, but you don’t get around to telling your team. Everything becomes muddy, and no resolutions are ultimately met. The solution is to take ownership of your communication.Garbled communication. This is communication that’s expressed but unclear. It’s too vague to really be understood. If people have to guess at the meaning, the communication probably falls into this category. This usually boils down to a lack of clarity in your own mind. This is also one of the main reasons that delegation fails. The people around you can’t give you what you want if you don’t know what that is. You have to be explicit and precise if you want predictable results. Otherwise, people will act on their own interpretation, intuition, or best guess. The solution is to get clear on your own thinking before you communicate with others.Implied communication. This is communication that is expressed but perhaps not fully, and so it is only clear to you and not others. You’re left frustrated, because people don’t respond as you’d like. Often, there’s a gap between what you think you’re communicating and what the people around you understand, because they don’t have the baseline understanding that you already do. You think they should know what you want since it’s so clear to you, but they don’t. It might feel tedious, but you need to spell things out. The solution is to overcommunicate.

You can communicate clearly every time by making your communication explicit and precise. And to arrive there, you need to avoid these three communication fails. Thankfully, good communication is a skill anyone can learn. Use every day as an opportunity to practice and hone your skills. Little by little, your communication will get better. And not only will communication be cleared up, but you’ll gain further clarity about what you want for your business, your team, and your role.

What’s the biggest challenge you fall into when trying to communicate?

3 Mistakes Leaders Make When Delegating

It’s easy to think no one can do the work that needs to get done better than you. Sometimes it can also feel like passing work off actually creates even more work for you. But the truth is, there is likely someone who can do the job just as well, if not better, than you.